This dragon-decorated vase is essentially a variant of one of the prescribed
peachbloom shapes, the "three-string vase," so named after the three ridges
adorning the base of its neck.1
The relief design of two three-clawed dragons distinguishes it from the majority
of the Qing monochromes in the National Gallery collection, which are devoid
of any added ornament.2 Indeed it would
appear that the majority of Qing monochromes, particularly the very finest Kangxi
wares, were most often left plain. Nevertheless, these celadon-glazed dragon-decorated
vases are well represented in many collections. Vases virtually identical to
this example are found at the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; the Asian
Art Museum, San Francisco; the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore; the Palace Museum,
Beijing; and the Tsui Museum, Hong Kong.3
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, owns two "three-string" vases with
further variations on this theme: a white Kangxi vessel with underglaze red
dragons cavorting in relief waves quite similar to those in the celadon examples;
and a Yongzheng piece adorned with an elaborate underglaze red scene of dragons
and waves.4

Some scholars suggest that the smooth-skinned, three-clawed, single-horned,
fork-tailed relief dragons on these celadon vases more closely resemble the
archaistic chi dragons often seen on Song and Yuan porcelains than the
scaly-skinned, five-clawed, two-horned, long dragon, which is more typical
of Qing wares.5 However, these creatures
are generally described as haishui (ocean) long, rather than chi,
in Chinese captions to vases of this type, while chi seems to be reserved
for a more serpentine creature with a much smaller head.6
In any case, the National Gallery's original curatorial notes describe the creatures
as "archaistic dragon forms," and of that there is little doubt. Although the
Qianlong reign is more generally associated with antiquarianism than that of
Kangxi, a taste for the antique was common among China's educated elite at least
from the Song dynasty onward, and it is likely that they were the intended audience
for this piece.

Dragons frequently appear on Chinese ceramics, often in pairs contending over
a flaming, magical pearl. The image presented here of two dragons cavorting
among clouds and waves is a variant. It may owe something to the influential
paintings of Chen Rong (fl. c. 1200-1266), who often painted dragons fighting
among clouds and waves, though judging from the works attributed to him, his
dragons were scaled and two-horned.7
These dragons do not appear to be challenging each other, and although the dragons
are similar in size, one commentator has interpreted them as mother and young.8

(Text by Virginia Bower/Stephen Little, published in the NGA Systematic Catalogue:
Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Painting; Persian and
Indian Rugs and Carpets)

Notes

1. Ralph M. Chait, "The Eight Prescribed Peachbloom
Shapes Bearing Kang-hsi Marks," Oriental Art 3 (Winter 1957),
130-137. "Three-string vase" is a direct translation of the
Chinese san xian ping, and Chait explains that the Chinese likened
the ridges to the strings of musical instruments. He also mentions that
this form is sometimes described by the Chinese as "turnip-shaped." See,
for example, Yihua Li, ed., Kangxi Yongzheng, Qianlong Qing
Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong; Beijing,
1989, 146-147, no. 129, repro.; and Ho-pi Tsai, ed., Catalogue of the Special
Exhibition of Kang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Chien-ling Porcelain Ware from
the Ching Dynasty in the National Palace Museum [Exh. cat. National
Palace Museum], Taipei, 1986, 41, no. 13,
repro. This word can also be used to refer to a radish; see Keyang Yang, ed., Taoci, 3 vols., Shanghai,
1988, vol. 3, 56, no. 157, 135, repro. Yang indicates that either laifu and luobo(the word generally used for radish,
usually meaning the red, but also sometimes including the white variety) is
an acceptable descriptive term for the shape of this vase. Though Chait
professes puzzlement at this appellation, it does not seem too remote if
the vegetable and vessel are both considered in profile.

2. Among the few other decorated monochromes in the National Gallery
collection are the celadon and peachbloom vases with molded petal bands
(1942.9.499, 500, 511-513, 521), three white vessels (1942.9.548-550), and
a white porcelain bowl (1942.9.551) with incised patterns.

4. Suzanne Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese
Ceramics in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989, 220, no. 211, repro., and color pl. 36. Other
Kangxi-marked or -attributed celadon vases exist with carved or incised
dragons that occupy a larger portion of the vase body. Though sharing the
same oviform profile, they may have only one or no ridges on their necks,
and thus differ from the classic "three-string" form. These include an
example in the British Museum, London: Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain: The Ching
Dynasty, 1644-1912, New York, 1951, pl. 40; the Taft
Museum, Cincinnati: Sheila Keppel, China in 1700: Kangxi Porcelains
at the Taft Museum [Exh. cat. The Taft Museum, Cincinnati],
Cincinnati, 1988, 22, no. 12, 21, repro.; and the Baur
Collection, Geneva: John Ayers, The Baur Collection, Geneva: Chinese Ceramics, 4 vols., Geneva, 1968-1974, vol. 3, A358.

5. Louisa Cunningham, in describing the Yale piece, links the dragons on
that vessel to Song-dynasty chi dragons: see Neill 1982, 82. There
is an extensive bibliography available on dragons in Chinese art. See
Jessica Rawson, Chinese Ornament: The Lotus and
the Dragon, London, 1984, 93-98; and Xin Yang, Yihua Li, and Naixiang Xu, The Art of the Dragon, Boston, 1988. The best discussion of
dragon types, especially chi and long, can be found in Jan Wirgin, Song Ceramic Designs, London,
1979, 186-190.

6. Yang 1988, 3: 56, 135, no. 157, repro.; and Li 1989, 146-147, 129,
repro. Both use haishui long: Li 1989, 164, no. 147, reproduces a
yellow glazed cup with what are specifically called chi dragons, and
they are quite different from the dragons on this vase, being small-headed
with short bodies.